Case Closed
by Liete
Summary: [Suikoden V] Twenty themes for the Oboro Detective Agency.
1. Theme 3: Investigator Sagiri

**Case Closed**

**By: Liete**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Suikoden V or any of the characters mentioned.**

**A/N: **Just a bit of an explanation…Since I couldn't find any fanworks related to the Oboro Detective Agency in the English speaking fandom, I had to resort to searching Japanese fansites. In my search, I found a list of twenty themes for the Oboro Detective Agency, and decided to translate the themes and write them myself. At some point I'll put up a list in my profile so you know what to expect. I _do _support the idea of Shigure and Sagiri as a couple, so there will be romantic interaction/implications between them to a certain degree.

Spoiler warning! If you have not _at least _recruited Sagiri, I guarantee there will be spoilers of any info or events up to that point. All other spoilers will be marked.

I hate long intros, so I'll get on with it.

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**Theme #3: Investigator - Sagiri**

When business was lacking, Oboro made it a point to take their cause into town and advertise. Oboro's tactic was smooth talking and a business card, neither of which garnered much interest usually. Though with the recent death of both Queen Arshtat and Ferid, there were many who had questions and suspicions, so that would more than likely spell an increase in cases they could take on. Shigure always complained, but Sagiri didn't mind, except for the inevitable comments about her constant smile.

The inn seemed a good place to start, and the innkeeper only watched Oboro and Shigure with narrow eyes before his gaze fell on Sagiri.

"It's so nice to see a smile in these troubling times," the man said with a weak smile of his own.

That was similar what _they _would say before she killed them. A man or woman who was a known enemy of the queen, paranoid and frightened, waiting for the inevitable assassin to come. They never expected Sagiri. There was no reason to be afraid of a young girl with such a nice smile, and they would always relax. They would smile, too and try to start up a friendly conversation.

They wouldn't even get the chance for their smile to fade before her blade was on their throat, warm blood staining her fingers.

A reflex that had been burned into her memory by Nether Gate, one that she would never really be able to get rid of, kicked in. 'Smile. Slit his throat. Destroy any evidence that you were there.' She reached for the knife she had long since stop carrying around with her, and panicked when her hand didn't close around the handle. 'I'm unarmed, retreat. Retreat...'

"Sagiri?" Shigure's voice snapped her back to attention, she must have backed up and bumped into him. Oboro placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a sympathetic smile. There were no words exchanged, Oboro just nodded at Shigure and Sagiri found herself being led out of the room.

Even after eight years she couldn't so easily forget what she had been trained to do since before she could even walk. Smile and kill. That was life, and there was no room for anything else. That was meant to change when Nether Gate disbanded, and thanks to the efforts of Oboro she and Shigure had learned that there was more to life, but things weren't changed so easily. She could avoid battle and thus avoid killing anyone, she could tease Shigure and enjoy some small happiness, but she couldn't stop smiling. That was the first and most important step in truly improving her life.

Back on their boat, Shigure dozed lightly next to her (if she didn't know how much Shigure cared about her, she would have sworn that he'd taken her out of there as an excuse to avoid work) while she stared at the window. The cold of the rain outside mixed with the warmth of the boat's interior fogged up the windows.

She reached out and smeared the condensation on the window, so that her reflection was almost distorted into a frown.


	2. Theme 12: Reason to Fight

**A/N: **I've put up a link to the list of themes in my profile, but the list is somewhat incomplete. If anyone with a better understanding of Japanese would like to help me with the translations, I'd greatly appreciate it. :)

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**Theme #12: Reason to fight**

As an assassin, Shigure had never understood why people would try to beg for their life. As far as he was concerned, life was empty. He killed when he was ordered to, and trained to become more effective at killing when he wasn't.

Even more confusing were people who would offer up their lives in exchange for the one he was ordered to take. Though he did believe that life was empty, he saw no reason to give up his life to let someone else live.

When Oboro took him away from that life of killing and emptiness, and tried to teach him to appreciate that he was alive, he still didn't understand the concept of valuing another life above his own. As a detective, there was very little opportunity for his life to be threatened. The random encounter with a blade bunny was hardly a scrape with death.

It wasn't until Nakula came along that he truly began to understand what those people had been doing when they offered their lives. Nakula wanted to kill Sagiri, and, as soon as the war ended, he certainly would try.

Just the thought drove Shigure crazy. After eight years, the girl with the perpetual smile had grown on him, to the point where he couldn't imagine what he'd do if she wasn't there with him. There had never been any need to think of such a scenario, not with the peaceful life Oboro had created for them. With Nakula's promise to kill Sagiri, Shigure found himself faced with the notion that someday someone might take Sagiri away from him, and the thought scared him.

Fuyo and Sagiri hated that he fought with Nakula whenever they so much as made the briefest eye contact, but he couldn't help it. Just the fact that the man existed was an irritation, and an unforgivable one at that. Shigure told himself that he would kill Nakula before he'd let him even lay a finger on Sagiri, even if it meant that she would hate him. So long as she lived, he didn't care about consequences.

"If you even touch her, I swear I'll kill you," Shigure promised Nakula on more than one occasion.

"If you want to give your life to protect that worthless murderer, that's your problem. She'll die by my hand regardless," the former Armes soldier promised in return.

If it were an option, Shigure felt that he would gladly give up his life if it meant Sagiri would live. He finally understood what those people had been doing. To know that someone you cared for more than anything else in the world was going to die was terrifying. He wanted Sagiri to live, so that one day she would stop smiling, and she would stop being haunted by memories of Nether Gate. It wasn't an option, though, and he knew it. Nakula wanted all of Nether Gate to die, so Shigure was just another notch on the way to the main goal of Sagiri.

The war was far from over, and Nakula had promised the Prince that he wouldn't try anything until it ended, so Shigure still had some time to find a way to stop that event from occurring. He'd hate to think that he'd learned of how important Sagiri was to him too late.


	3. Theme 2: Investigator Shigure

**Theme #2: Investigator - Shigure**

Shigure didn't like to work, especially not when he could stretch out on the front deck of their boat and smoke imported tobacco, take a long nap until late in the evening, or just all around avoid exerting himself in any way.

Not that he couldn't be a hard worker, and the best damn detective in the world no less, when he needed to be, it just seemed pointless to put forth the effort into a worthless case.

And the case presented to him seemed especially worthless. A paranoid woman wanted to know if her husband was fooling around with other women, and had come to the Oboro Detective Agency for help.

"What a pain, I'll pass on this one," Shigure said dismissively. A nap seemed a much better way to spend such a beautiful day.

But then, Oboro knew how to get Shigure to do what he wanted when he wanted. Oboro knew his one weakness and how to exploit it.

That weakness being Sagiri, of course.

"Ah, well, Mr. Mouse and I have another case that requires our attention, so this one's up to you, Sagiri," Oboro said and gave the smiling girl a sympathetic look.

"Yes, I'll do my best," Sagiri replied with a nod.

The thought of Sagiri wasting her time on such a trivial manner and potentially getting caught in the middle of a nuptial squabble made Shigure sick, and he wouldn't have any of it.

"In that case, I'll take this one. Never mind, Sagiri."

A suspiciously bright smile crossed Oboro's face. "Excellent! I'll tell the client that she's got you on the case!"

"Do your best, Shigure," Sagiri said in such a way that Shigure wondered if he had missing something somewhere in that exchange.

It didn't take him long to put two and two together, and he realized that he had fallen right into their trap. "Gah, what a pain…"


	4. Theme 4: Clerk Fuyo

**Theme #4: Clerk - Fuyo**

It's no wonder they haven't had any other customers besides me, Fuyo mused. There were various names and requests scribbled on sheets of paper and scattered haphazardly around the room. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to what they did, and she realized that she probably only had her investigation completed because she had pestered them about it until it was finished.

Oboro, brilliant as he was, obviously didn't know the first thing about running a business. When Fuyo had asked him about his fee, he had scratched his head and thought for a minute before spouting a ridiculous sum. She had called him on it, saying no one would want to pay that much for a simple investigation, and he continued to rattle off potch amounts until _she_ finally told him what a reasonable price would be. Not ridiculously high, but not so low that Oboro would wind up the one who was cheated. It didn't occur to Fuyo at the time that she was their first real customer, and had just assumed that people were so desperate for information that they'd be willing to pay the outrageous fees that Oboro had listed.

The two children, Shigure and Sagiri, weren't much help in the area of organization either. When Fuyo had asked Shigure for help in cleaning up the mess they had made, he stared at her (at least, she assumed he was staring at her, it was hard to tell with those bangs of his) for a moment before going back the way he came in and muttering things under his breath. Sagiri had mumbled apologies when inquired about the mess, but obviously didn't know how to go about straightening things up, either. The girl picked up a sheet of paper and stared blankly around the room, clearly at a loss of what to do with it. Fuyo sighed and directed her as they set to work cleaning up and deciding what investigations could still potentially be taken up.

The group was capable of accomplishing great things, she knew that much, but they wouldn't get anywhere with the way things were going. That was why she offered up her services to Oboro. Her family came from a long line of merchants, and she had learned from a young age how to run a business. With such prospects, Oboro had no reason to decline her offer, especially not since they were living off next to nothing, and had welcomed her into the group.

Of course, getting the business up and running smoothly was only a part of her master plan. There was still the matter of getting the three investigators to open up to her. Like why Sagiri never stopped smiling, why Shigure never had _any _expression on his face at all, or why Oboro looked so uncomfortable when asked what they had done to survive before she showed up. Fuyo sat at the desk that had finally been unearthed, sorting through papers and taking notes, and decided that she had plenty of time to solve the puzzle that was the investigators of the Oboro Detective Agency. She was in it for the long run, after all.


End file.
